Communication (COMM)

COMM 105  |  Public Speaking for the 21st Century  |  3 cr

Develops professional speaking and presentation skills in live and virtual contexts. Explores methods of persuasion, argumentation, and organization in virtual and physical speaking contexts.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

Meets: Humanities and the Arts: COMM

COMM 107  |  Communication and the Human Condition  |  3 cr

Examines social aspects of human life, including a strong focus on how identify, culture and social relationships are managed in interaction. Includes an introduction to how language constructs a version of the world in interaction. Must earn a grade of C or better for credit toward communication major.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

Meets: Social & Behavioral Science: COMM, Ethnic Diversity

COMM 108  |  Media and Society  |  3 cr

Explores digital, broadcast and print media in the context of contemporary life. Must earn a grade of C or better for credit toward the major.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

Meets: Social & Behavioral Science: COMM

COMM 168  |  Introduction to Visual and Digital Communication  |  3 cr

Introduces visual communication through visual imagery and digital media. Explores the concepts, theories, aesthetics and skills of visual communication, covering visual persuasion, photography, design, cultural and ethical issues, visualization of ideas, and others.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

Meets: Humanities and the Arts: COMM

COMM 205  |  Oral Interpretation  |  3 cr

Provides experience performing literature in front of a live audience or on video for online audiences. Emphasizes the improvement of oral expression, enhanced vocabulary, inflection, delivery, and engaging an audience while reading text.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

Meets: Humanities and the Arts: COMM

COMM 207  |  Introduction to the Communication Discipline (Part I)  |  3 cr

Introduces the communication discipline as a community of practice. Emphasizes the practical uses of contemporary communication theory and research to solve problems.

Prerequisites: COMM 107 and COMM 108.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

COMM 208  |  Introduction to the Communication Discipline (Part 2)  |  3 cr

Develops student's professional identities as practitioners of communication research.

Prerequisites: COMM 107, COMM 108 and COMM 207.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

COMM 255  |  Writing for Multimedia  |  3 cr

Explores writing for print, digital and social media. Community-based learning designation.

Prerequisites: ENGL 101 and COMM 108; or consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

Meets: Community Based Learning

COMM 258  |  Podcasting  |  3 cr

Introduces the uses and practical applications of sound for multimedia. Covers the components of podcast production including interviewing, story development, script writing, remote recording and digital audio recording, editing of sound, mixing, and final production for broadcast. Community-based learning designation.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Spring.

Meets: Community Based Learning

COMM 275  |  Introduction to Constructive Communication  |  3 cr

Introduces the theory and practice of performance and improvisation to develop pro-social communication skills, including mindfulness, emotion management, self-expression, listening, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. Community-based learning designation.

Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

Meets: Community Based Learning

COMM 285  |  Introduction to Conflict Analysis and Resolution  |  3 cr

Examines approaches to understanding, transforming, and resolving conflicts. Includes case studies at the interpersonal, organizational, community, cultural, and international levels.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

Meets: Humanities and the Arts: COMM

COMM 290  |  Special Topics in Communication  |  1-3 cr

Selected topics in communication will be examined.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Occasionally.

COMM 295  |  Sophomore Seminar  |  3 cr

Introduces students to the communication major. Reviews departmental learning objectives, explores communication careers, and assists students in developing a professional identity.

Prerequisites: COMM 107 or COMM 108.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

COMM 299  |  Independent Study  |  1-3 cr

Individual investigation of selected problems in communication. May be repeated for credit. Does not count toward major.

Prerequisites: Core courses and consent of instructor, department chair.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 303  |  Organizational Communication  |  3 cr

Examines the role of communication in organizational settings. Includes organizational communication theories and elements; as well as contemporary organizational systems and their functioning.

Prerequisites: Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall.

COMM 315  |  Communication and Gender  |  3 cr

Explores the role of communication in the construction of gender, the role of gender in the social organization, and use of language and communication systems. Cross-listed with: WGSS 315.

Prerequisites: COMM core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Spring.

COMM 320  |  Privilege and Power  |  3 cr

Examines oppressive social systems constituted by inequitable distributions of privilege and power. Focuses on the relationship between dominant groups and historically underrepresented groups in the U.S. Emphasis on issues of social justice and personal responsibility. Cross-listed with: ETHN 320.

Prerequisites: Junior standing or consent of instructor.

Offered: Yearly.

Meets: Ethnic Diversity

COMM 322  |  Public Relations Concepts and Practices  |  3 cr

Surveys theoretical and practical concepts involved in the practice of public relations such as rhetorical theory, interviewing theory, media relations, and the public relations process of research, planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Prerequisites: COMM 105 or COMM 205; and COMM 207, COMM 208.

Offered: Yearly.

COMM 335  |  Language and Human Communication  |  3 cr

Examines the role of language in creating, maintaining and transforming the social world form cultural, rhetorical, and/or philosophical perspectives. Addresses the ethical implications of language use in contemporary contexts.

Prerequisites: Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Occasionally.

COMM 340  |  Health Communication  |  3 cr

Examines fundamentals of caregiver and client interactions, the relationship between our health and our interactions with others, and the production of health messages. Community-based learning designation.

Prerequisites: Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Spring.

Meets: Community Based Learning

COMM 350  |  Digital Storytelling  |  3 cr

Examines the ways that digital storytelling creates identity and negotiates social life. Include structure, function, genres, and contexts of narrative.

Prerequisites: Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall.

COMM 356  |  Advanced Media Production  |  3 cr

Prepares students for live digital multicamera production and develops media literacy competence by focusing on aesthetic and composition principles influencing television and film production.

Prerequisites: COMM 168.

Offered: Fall.

COMM 360  |  Contemporary Media Industries  |  3 cr

Examines contemporary media industries in the U.S., including broadcast and cable television, radio, film, popular music, newspapers, the Internet, and others. Emphasizes industrial structures and the ways these industries work together in the 21st century.

Prerequisites: COMM 108, COMM 207, and COMM 208.

Offered: Fall.

COMM 363  |  Communication and Ethnicity  |  3 cr

Examines critically communication practices which construct, maintain, transform, or threaten ethnic identity in a co-cultural context. May be repeated with different content. Emphasis rotates among African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino/as, and Native American Indians. Cross-listed with: ETHN 363.

Prerequisites: COMM 107 or consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Winterim.

Meets: Ethnic Diversity

COMM 365  |  Intercultural Communication  |  3 cr

Investigates the relationship between culture and human interaction, emphasizing ethical aspects of communication. Cross-listed with: ETHN 365.

Prerequisites: COMM 107, COMM 207 and COMM 208; or consent of instructor.

Offered: Yearly.

COMM 366  |  Communication and Popular Music  |  3 cr

Explores the cultural politics of popular music as communication in contemporary society.

Prerequisites: Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Spring.

COMM 368  |  Children and the Media  |  3 cr

Examines the ways electronic media affect the lives of children. Gives particular attention to research studies and current policy debate. Community-based learning designation.

Prerequisites: COMM 108, COMM 207 and COMM 208; or consent of instructor.

Offered: Spring.

Meets: Community Based Learning

COMM 370  |  Communication and Social Movements  |  3 cr

Focuses on the role of interpersonal and media communication in organizing, carrying out, and documenting social movements.

Prerequisites: Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Occasionally.

Meets: Ethnic Diversity

COMM 384  |  Media, Crime and Criminal Justice  |  3 cr

Examines interrelationship between the mass media, crime and criminal justice. Covers media and the social construction of crime; crime and justice in the entertainment and news media; media as a cause of crime; media-based anti-crime efforts. Cross-listed with: CRMJ 385.

Prerequisites: CRMJ 101 or consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall.

COMM 385  |  Conflict Mediation  |  3 cr

Examines theory and practice of methods for conflict transformation. Includes facilitator training in dispute mediation, community dialogue, and the theatre of empowerment.

Prerequisites: Minimum of junior standing or consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall.

COMM 390  |  Special Topics in Communication  |  1-3 cr

Selected topics in communication will be examined. May repeat with different topic.

Prerequisites: Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Occasionally.

COMM 399  |  Independent Study  |  1-3 cr

Individual investigation of selected problems in communication. May be repeated for credit. Does not count toward major.

Prerequisites: Core courses and consent of instructor, department chair.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 430  |  Digital and Social Media  |  3 cr

Examines critical analysis and application of internet communication, including social networking, crowdsourcing, online communities and collaboration, identity and privacy issues, and other topics.

Prerequisites: Minimum of junior standing or consent of instructor.

Offered: Spring.

COMM 435  |  Integrated Marketing Communication  |  3 cr

Investigates theory and practice of integrated marketing communication approaches, including advertising, public relations, and emerging digital and social media. Community-based learning designation.

Prerequisites: Minimum of junior standing or consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall.

Meets: Community Based Learning

COMM 460  |  Global Media  |  3 cr

Explores global media through the lens of cultural, politics, and economics.

Prerequisites: Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Occasionally.

COMM 463  |  Gender, Race, Class and Sexualities in the Media  |  3 cr

Explores how representations of gender, race, class and sexualities in the media contribute to views of culture, self, and others. Cross-listed with: WGSS 463.

Prerequisites: COMM Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall.

COMM 468  |  Media Literacy Project  |  1 cr

A capstone experience in which the student, under the guidance of a faculty member, prepares and conducts a media literacy activity in the community.

Prerequisites: Consent of instructor and department chair.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 475  |  Advanced Constructive Communication  |  3 cr

Explores the theory and practice of performance and improvisation to develop pro-social communication skills, including mindfulness, emotion management, self-expression, listening, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. Community-based learning designation. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credits with a different topic.

Prerequisites: Junior standing and consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

Meets: Community Based Learning

COMM 480  |  Practicum in Organizational Communication  |  3 cr

Applies principles from public relations and/or organizational communication to an actual organization in the community. Specific topic may address developing a public relations campaign, training, and developing, or consulting. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.

Offered: Yearly.

COMM 485  |  Practicum in Conflict Intervention  |  3 cr

Examines conflict intervention in a public setting (school, business, or community). Includes in-class training and supervised field experience. Community-based learning designation.

Prerequisites: Minimum of junior standing or consent of instructor.

Offered: Spring.

Meets: Community Based Learning

COMM 490  |  Special Topics in Communication  |  1-3 cr

Advanced selected topics in communication will be examined.

Prerequisites: Core courses or consent of instructor.

Offered: Occasionally.

COMM 493  |  Capstone in Health Communication  |  1 cr

Assesses students understanding of program learning goals through the development and presentation of a digital portfolio.

Prerequisites: COMM 340.

Offered: Fall.

COMM 494  |  Communication Internship  |  1-3 cr

Combines field experience with a guided, systematic and structured application of communication concepts. Consult departmental internship director for procedures. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 credits. Up to 3 credits may be applied to the major.

Prerequisites: Must be in good standing; consent of instructor and department chair.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 495  |  Senior Seminar  |  3 cr

Assesses, integrates, and extends the student's intellectual grasp of the field. Includes career development planning. Taken during a student's final semester.

Prerequisites: Core courses, graduating senior; or consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

COMM 499  |  Independent Study  |  1-3 cr

Individual investigation of selected problems in communication.

Prerequisites: COMM core courses; consent of instructor and department chair.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 701  |  Introduction to Graduate Studies  |  1 cr

Provides a rigorous introduction to scholarly writing, research, methodologies in communication studies.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 703  |  Professional Communication  |  3 cr

Examines communication or communication in a global workplace emphasizing intercultural and multi-generational differences. Cross-listed with: MAPS 703.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Yearly.

COMM 707  |  Qualitative Research Methods  |  3 cr

Provides opportunity for research experience in interviewing, survey creation, and analysis.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 708  |  Critical Media Studies  |  3 cr

Introduces a number of theoretical backgrounds and methodological processes involved in doing media scholarship, such as analyses of industries, audiences, texts, and discourses.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Yearly.

COMM 715  |  Gender and Work  |  3 cr

Investigates the roles gender plays in defining work, and in determining access to leadership and power in the U.S. workplace. Explores women, men and non-binary genders across the corporate, political and non-profit sectors.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Yearly.

COMM 720  |  Philosophy of Communication  |  3 cr

Delves into the nature of human "Being," by exploring philosophical discourse about communication, experience, interpretation, truth, art persuasion, and the construction and interpretation of reality.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Yearly.

COMM 725  |  Conflict Transformation  |  3 cr

Examines the connections between communication, conflict, and personal/social transformation.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Yearly.

COMM 730  |  Grant Proposal Writing  |  3 cr

Develops skills necessary for writing successful grant proposals. Covers different types of grants, identifying funding agencies, interpreting call for grant proposals, and creating persuasive narratives.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Summer.

COMM 740  |  Self-Reflective Communication in Civic Change  |  3 cr

Examines autoethnographic writing as a mode of qualitative research, art form, and transformative process of understanding human behavior and lived experience.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Summer.

COMM 744  |  Human Machine Interface  |  3 cr

Explores how human and machines effectively engage in decision-making processes by aligning values, ethics, and cognition, and how the design of interfaces affects the social and cultural factors. Cross-listed: MAPS 744.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program; MAPS 640 or consent of instructor.

Offered: Summer.

COMM 750  |  Digital Media Production  |  3 cr

Introduces digital production techniques and technologies appropriate to achieve success in multiplatform workplaces. Develops skills in audio and video production and integrating multimedia projects on social networking platforms.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Summer.

COMM 770  |  Enacting Leadership  |  3 cr

Explores rhetorical perspectives and practices of leadership, critical followership, and ethics.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Spring.

COMM 775  |  Making Your Case: Strategies for Argumentation  |  3 cr

Considers argument in the context of theory and practice through a community-based project. Analyzes theoretical foundations for how the exchange of reason influences individuals and collectives in private and public life.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Yearly.

COMM 785  |  Public Dialogue  |  3 cr

Examines the theory and practice of dialogue as a form of communication. Analyzes a range of perspectives and strategies to gain proficiency as facilitators of the dialogue process.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program.

Offered: Spring.

COMM 790  |  Special Topics in Professional Communication  |  3 cr

Examines selected advanced topics in professional communication. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Prerequisites: None.

Offered: Occasionally.

COMM 794  |  Professional Communication Internship  |  3 cr

Combines field experience with a guided, systematic and structured application of communication concepts. Consult graduate director for procedures.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program; consent of instructor, department chair.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 797  |  Proposal Development  |  3 cr

Provides guidance for developing a Master's thesis or project proposal.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program; consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 798  |  Research/Professional Project  |  3 cr

Implements a research or professional project, including collecting data, conducting analysis, writing the final document, and presenting results.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program; COMM 797; consent of instructor.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

COMM 799  |  Independent Study  |  3 cr

Provides an opportunity for investigation of selected topics in communication.

Prerequisites: Admission to the program; consent of instructor, department chair.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.